Setting World Records!

The weeks just keep getting better! It's crazy! Out here in the mission field you think you've hit an all time high, but every week just keeps getting better! We are blessed with so many opportunities and blessings and I am just so grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary at this time. This week was kind of all over the place but also just such a blast. We were able to fly to Oslo this past Wednesday for our zone conference. 

                                                             Reunited with Søster Dransfield!

We were privileged enough to be able to have Elder Kearon (a member of the Quorum of the 70) come and visit us and talk to us. Let me just tell you, these men are truly inspired men and servants of God. I think everything Elder Kearon said was exactly what myself or one of my fellow missionaries needed to hear. He's also just an outstanding human being. Before we began the conference, Elder Kearon walked into the room, we all stood up as he proceeded to the front of the chapel and then he stopped and just gave us a good smile and took in the moment. He then took the time to shake everyones hand and quickly but kindly got to know a little bit about every person at the conference. When it was my turn to go and shake his hand, I went up and we started to talk about my mission and where I come from. We got to talking and I asked if he knew our family friend also serving in the quorum of the 70, Kevin Hamilton. He totally knew him! It was really awesome to hear about him talk about Elder Hamilton and their friendship. Sometimes I think I forget they are real people too and it's always so fun for me to see their personalities. They really are just such amazing leaders and examples to the rest of us though and I hope to one day achieve the spirituality and relationship with my Father in Heaven that all these wonderful men have. 

I just wanted to highlight a few of the things Elder Kearon said during the conference and I hope they mean just as much to you all back home as they did to me. After all, we are all missionaries, ikke sant? The first quote that really struck me was one that I believe Elder Holland actually said but Elder Kearon quoted it as well and it states, "It takes a good conference to last past Tuesday." For those of you who grew up in the church you will understand that, but I'm just going to take a minute to explain. General Conference comes twice a year and it's a time where we get to listen to our living day prophet and apostles and other various leaders of the church talk to us and give us counsel on our lives and what we should do to make our lives that much better and that much more in line with Christ. I have really grown to love the messages that are shared but sometimes I fail to take action from what I have been taught, and that's where this quote comes into play. It's very much like life as well, we can have the desire to be healthier or happier and we can sit and think about everything that has been written or said about achieving that goal, but until we actually put it into action those words are of no use to us. Pretty much, Elder Kearon was telling us to take action. If we want to BE better we have to DO better. We have to take what we learn and actually apply it to our lives and that's when the real change will occur. Another thing Elder Kearon helped put into perspective was that we are doing our best. He said, "Be flexible, creative, and NORMAL. Just be kind. Just be you. Do it your way." I think that easily could apply to any situation as it does to missionary work. We just need to be ourselves. Just be kind. Go out and make relationships and build each other up. The world is hard enough. Go out and be a friend. I think that's what I would challenge all of you reading this week. Go and strengthen your fellow brothers and sisters in this journey that we call life. 

There were so many wonderful things that were mentioned at that conference but never enough time to write down all my thoughts so I'll just leave you all with those. I was also able to meet some more of my fellow missionaries here in Norway at the conference, including Søster Etchells from Castle Rock, Colorado! It's always fun to meet up and get to know the missionaries here in Norway. They are all such spiritual giants and just wonderful people! I'm lucky to be serving among them. 

Me and Søster Etchells 

Another really incredible experience here in Ålesund, Norway this week was the world record..... *Drum roll please* ...... Bonfire! We got permission from our President to stay out a little bit later and watch the world record bonfire which was beyond cool. I wish the pictures had turned out a bit better but it was way fun to see this massive tower go from being built to being burnt. It is pretty incredible that it all worked out. They spent weeks building this massive tower and finally it was tall enough to beat the world record. They started to burn it at 9 and everyone around here was out to see. I hadn't seen this many people outside since the 17th of May (Norway's Independence Day).There were fireworks and everyone was out in their boats to go and watch this massive fire. We were able to talk to a few people and we even ran into our friend Francesco!

 He's leaving soon to go back to Italy and was talking about his long layover in one of the airports here in Norway. He said he had a book to read but we gave him a better book just in case(; The bonfire night ended up being way fun! It made me think of the many bonfires I've had with Annika, Saryn, Kayla, and all the Plano crew. I'm so grateful for all of my amazing friends back home and I'm so glad to have made so many memories as well. I look forward to the plethora of memories I will make here in Norway and I can't wait to share them all! 

One fun thing we did this morning was go and see Geiranger as a district. Let me tell you, the pictures do not do this place justice. If you are ever in Norway you have to come and see this place! It's absolutely stunning and I feel so blessed that I'm here living in Ålesund at the moment and can go and see one of the Lord's wonderful creations. This country really is breathtaking! There is a story behind the Geiranger mountain as well. Apparently, some odd years ago part of the mountain split off and fell into the water and wiped out a few of the nearby towns. The other part of the mountain is slowly slipping and any given day it could fall into the fjord and take out thousands of people. It's a little bit scary but luckily the Lord was on our side today and we just got to go and enjoy the beauty. It really is breathtaking. Alright well I hope you all enjoy the pictures and thanks again for all the support!

I just want to take this time to give a shoutout to Rebecca Dover for the kind letter! I loved hearing from you and I just love the Dover family! Thanks for thinking of me! 

 I'll leave you with a fun Norwegian saying before I go. In America we sometimes say, "See you later Alligator." With the response, "In a while Crocodile." Here in Norway they say, "Ha det på bade dine gamle sjokolade." With the response, "Vi sees i kveld dine gamle karamel." If you try and translate it, it really doesn't make any sense but enjoy!! 

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

P.S.  The VW pics are for family friend Jon Argyle. I thought he might appreciate Norway's taste in cars. 

Lessons Learned

HAPPY (late) FATHERS DAY! I just wanted to start this blog post out by thanking all the wonderful Father figures in my life. I have been blessed with some pretty amazing people in my life and I am so thankful for the wonderful influence they each have had on me and my experience as an individual. I am so lucky to have grown up with an amazing Father who not only taught me a lot of life lessons but also loved me along the way. I know that my Father is a big reason why I am out here in Norway serving a mission and I hope and pray that I can make him and everyone else back home proud. Love you all!

Alright now for the run down of the week. The beginning of the week was just like any other normal week and then *BAM* while speed walking from appointment to appointment, I tripped and injured myself pretty badly. While cleaning my wounds and icing my ankle, I thought to myself, "There's got to be a lesson here." Sure enough, I found out that the Lord was taking a more direct approach with this lesson than usual. I am a very independant person and like to do things on my own and figure things out for myself. It was only when I had injured myself that I learned to rely on my companion. I needed her help. It put me in a very vulnerable situation and way out of my comfort zone but I am greatful for the growth I was able to gain from my injury. This experience also made me think of a conversation we had with our recent convert Ben. Ben is honestly a very intelligent guy and comes up with some of the greatest analogies for the gospel that I think I have ever heard and I hope to one day be as great a teacher as him. We were over at Ben's house going over the restoration lesson and he started going off on this tangent and said, "Sometimes our problems are our solutions." I have really pondered that statement this week and can tell you all from first hand experience that it is true. What I thought to be a major problem of twisting my ankle ended up being a solution to so many more problems and it really was a humbling experience. I just hope that next time I need to learn a lesson I will be humble enough to do so without the need for physical pain. 

I had also been pondering another one of Ben's super cool analogies this week as we are frequently questioned about the existence of God here in Norway and I thought Ben's example was a perfect answer to those who don't believe that God exists. Ben told us that our blessings are a shadow of God. I had never thought of my blessings as a shadow of God before but as soon as Ben said it, it made complete sense. For example, you can't have a shadow of your hand without having your hand first. There's no way that you would be able to have a shadow of an object without first having the object and that object must surely exist if it is going to give off any kind of a shadow. Therefore God is like the hand in this scenario and the shadow is our blessings. I have seen countless times in my life blessings from my Father in Heaven and although I haven't seen him with my own two eyes I have seen the shadows or the influences that God has had in my life and I can say with a surety that I know I have a loving Father in Heaven and that he really and truly does exist and he knows me personally. A lot of the blessings (and the lessons) that I have had in my life have been tailored to me so perfectly that there really is no other explanation to it than they have all been shadows of God.

One of my most recent "shadows" or blessings was to have had 3 of our investigators in church this week.  We may have had to bribe a couple of them with brownies but no matter how they got there, the Spirit was present and all were edified.  I loved hearing them participate in Sunday school and I consider it a true blessing to be able to serve here in Ålesund and make such great friendships with these wonderful people. I really do learn so much from each and every person that we stop and talk to and wish they all would come to church and let us learn from their life and experiences.  I would challenge you all to invite a friend to church or to a church activity in the next few months. I know that all in attendance are able to learn and grow and ultimately grow closer to their Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ.

To wrap things up I just want to say thank you again for all of you reading.I know I'm not the most eloquent writer or that some blogs posts may be more interesting than others but it means a lot that you all take the time to come on this journey through Norway with me. I know I say it a lot but I really have been blessed with some of the most amazing people in my life and I will forever be greatful for each and every one of you. 

Hope you all enjoy the pictures from my 3rd hike up fjellstua! 

Håper det går bra denne uke!

Søster Blankmeyer

A Boat, A Gun, and A Few White Handbooks Later...

Alright, what a week this has been. I know I pretty much say that every week but it really is an adventure every day here in Norway! Last Monday after logging off my email we had our little branch FHE. We had decided to all be tourists together for a day and we took a hike up fjellstua which is a big tourist attraction here in Ålesund. After a quick 418 stairs we made it to the top and wow was that view breathtaking. Living in Ålesund is unlike anything else I have ever experienced in my life and I am truly blessed to have started my mission out here on the gorgeous west coast! I loved being able to look down on my city here in Norway and recognize all the cool experiences I have been blessed with thus far and be able to recognize all the cute little shops we frequent and you can even see our Bakeri church building from the top of fjellstua which is way awesome. Growing up in a big city, it's cool to be able to live in a cute little Norwegian town and be able to climb up a mountain and look down on the city and know every street and building within view. I took so many photos so I plan to keep this blog post a bit shorter so that I can post more photos and not completely overwhelm all of you reading! Also I found a friendly cat and was able to get a picture with it, so something to look forward to! Anyways, if any of you ever happen to make it to Ålesund, Norway you have to hike fjellstua and take in the beauty that is Norway!

our Bakeri Church building

restaurant at the top

tourist for the day

This week we were able to have our Sister Training Leaders come and visit us. Sadly, Søster Ralphs ended up getting way sick and had to stay in both days with one of the STLs but I was able to do some amazing missionary work with both of the STLs during their visit to Ålesund! It was really cool to learn from the Sister Training Leaders as they are both going home next week and are obviously very seasoned sister missionaries.There were a lot of cool experiences and awesome miracles happening those two days. Since we couldn't really go to many of our appointments without Søster Ralphs, me and the STLs had a lot of time to go out and try and find some people who have been prepared to hear the gospel! While we were out talking to people on the street something really cool happened, people starting coming up to us! We would start up a conversation with someone and then I would hear "Søster Blankmeyer" or even "Abigail Blankmeyer" which was way different! Considering Ålesund is a pretty small city and I may or may not have talked to pretty much everybody living here, it was cool to have people come up to me and recognize me. I have really grown to love the people here in Ålesund. I have been able to make so many friendships and that is by far my favorite part of missionary work. I am a firm believer that people have their agency and don't always want to listen to our message but that doesn't mean we can't just love them and be a good representative of Christ and his church here in Norway. I am so thankful for the friendships I have made here in Ålesund and that will make leaving it (whenever that day may come) so much harder, but what a cool thing to be able to say that you made such wonderful friendships with the people that it made leaving them hard. I love the people of Norway!

While I was out on splits with Søster Randall (one of the STLs) she got a text from one of her member friends in Oslo saying she wanted us to go and visit her Mom here in Ålesund. Of course we wanted to go and visit this member's non-member mother so we asked her how we could get to her mother's house. She told us to go and hike up fjellstua and look down at the city and find the big pink house near the water, so in our skirts and all I got to hike up the 418 stairs again to try and find this house! We get to the top and start to look down at the city. Let me tell you, I don't think I've ever seen so many pink houses near a body of water before in my life! We ended up spending a couple hours hiking up and down and trying to find this house. We eventually got an address and were able to find this lady's mother and sing to her. That was a way cool experience. I had never thought of singing a primary song or hymn as missionary work, but of course it is! I love music and am so excited to start incorporating that into my missionary work here in Norway! That was a way cool lesson that the STLs taught us, that missionary work is not just going out and talking to everyone out on the street. It is a big part of missionary work to do that, but we can also do missionary through service and song, as well as many other daily activities! I would challenge you all to find a simple way to share the gospel with those around you. It doesn't have to be a song, but just a tiny act of service or something to brighten someones day.

pink house?

Speaking of service, we were able to help our Dutch friends with yardwork on Saturday and I was able to pet two of their adorable cats!! That was a tender mercy. I just love cats! We have an investigator who wants to get a hairless cat and buy it some cute Norwegian sweaters to wear so that it doesn't get too cold. I'll let you know if she ends up committing to that! It really was a week full of cats which was really a party for me!

We also had a branch party this past week. We went and had hot dogs and brownies and such on an island nearby where we live. We got permission from President to take one of our member's boats out to this island and man was that cool to see Ålesund from the water! This town is beyond stunning and I can't stress that enough! I just love Ålesund! 

I also love all the wonderful packages and letters that I received this week!! I just want to give a special shoutout to the Academy Ward primary for writing such sweet letters to me! I know I was only in that ward for a short period of time but I feel so much love from all the members there. Thank you for all the kind letters and words of encouragement! Also special shoutout to Ava and Cam and that wonderful family! I loved getting your letters in my package this morning! I can't wait to come and hang out with you all when I get back home! Of course, I can't say enough thanks to my own wonderful family! Thanks for the AMAZING letters and package! I loved getting a card from my cat! That letter was killer!! You all are the best and can't wait for Christmas in just a short 195 days!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! You are the best! Thanks for being such a wonderful example to me and for being just the absolute best man in the entire world! I really lucked out with you! Thanks for all you do and I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Can't wait to come and celebrate with you in 2018! Most of all Dad, thanks for teaching this Texas girl how to shoot a gun! In honor of your birthday, our Relief Society President let me shoot her (air soft gun? you guys may need to clarify what kind of a gun I was shooting. It wasn't like a real gun). These pics are for you! Love you tons!!

Love you all! Have a wonderful week! Keep up the great work and talk to you soon!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer